Happy New Year. How far into the year can one get away with saying that without sounding weird? My opinion is that the end of the first full week in January is it, no later. Or (assuming you still write the date on anything) as soon as you stop having to think about writing the 3 in 2013.
I digress.
Something I have started to notice over the last couple of years, and confirmed this week by a visit to one of the great restaurants that I sell wine to, is that for New Years Eve a lot of people talk about champagne, but very few people actually drink it.
Now, I'm not talking about sparkling wine in general. Plenty of people drink Cava, Prosecco, Sparkling from California/New Mexico, etc. I'm talking about actual Champagne from France. It curious to me that whenever you see images of NYE, or hear people talk about midnight on that particular occasion, Champagne is always mentioned. However, nobody drinks it.
On the 31st this year, I did a wine tasting at a retail store- in the entire time I was there, not a single person bought a bottle of Champagne. Later, I was at a party with about 30 people this year, most of whom are beyond wine fans and more on the level of aficionados, yet there was only one bottle of actual Champagne on hand. I talked to the GM of a really nice restaurant and he told me that, at midnight on that day, they had about half of the restaurant full, yet not a single bottle of Champagne was on any of the tables.
I wonder why this is. Is it cost prohibitive? I wouldn't think so- you can get into decent Champagne for $40 per bottle. Are people intimidated by it? Possibly.
My best guess is that a lot of people like the idea of Champagne but in reality consider it only a special occasion drink, so they actually know very little about it. That's a post for a different time- you can drink Champagne year-round.
What are your thoughts- did you drink "real" champagne at the stroke of Midnight, January 1, 2013?
Friday, January 11, 2013
Monday, October 15, 2012
Back at it (again)
Wow. 10 months since my last post. Bad blogger, Kyle, bad blogger.
Well, in case anyone has actually been checking in on this thing, here is the skinny on what has happened since my last post:
-The Mrs is doing well- she retired from roller derby after the regular season was over, and is now working part time at Russell's Cafe in Fenton (if you haven't been, you need to go.)
-The wine charity effort last November and December was very successful. As a result, Harsha Wines donated a little over $1000 to Mission St Louis!
-My dad and I merged Harsha Wines with another company called Vintegrity (www.vintegritywine.com). I now run the Eastern half of Missouri for this company. My dad stepped out of wine sales altogether, and now runs a small company focused on draft (draught?) wine and beer system installations. It's pretty cool, check out www.primotap.com
-On a personal note, our black lab Scout passed away earlier this year. To keep our other dog from being lonely, we got a new pup from Stray Rescue St Louis named Winston. He is.....full of energy.
-Now that I have a little less paperwork to do on a weekly basis, I really do plan on getting back on here and posting frequently. Let me know if you have wine topics you would like to see discussed.
Until then, cheers, and drink something good!
Well, in case anyone has actually been checking in on this thing, here is the skinny on what has happened since my last post:
-The Mrs is doing well- she retired from roller derby after the regular season was over, and is now working part time at Russell's Cafe in Fenton (if you haven't been, you need to go.)
-The wine charity effort last November and December was very successful. As a result, Harsha Wines donated a little over $1000 to Mission St Louis!
-My dad and I merged Harsha Wines with another company called Vintegrity (www.vintegritywine.com). I now run the Eastern half of Missouri for this company. My dad stepped out of wine sales altogether, and now runs a small company focused on draft (draught?) wine and beer system installations. It's pretty cool, check out www.primotap.com
-On a personal note, our black lab Scout passed away earlier this year. To keep our other dog from being lonely, we got a new pup from Stray Rescue St Louis named Winston. He is.....full of energy.
-Now that I have a little less paperwork to do on a weekly basis, I really do plan on getting back on here and posting frequently. Let me know if you have wine topics you would like to see discussed.
Until then, cheers, and drink something good!
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Updates from the land of Charitable Wine
Hey folks,
Many people have asked me where they can buy Ludovicus wine in order to support Mission: St Louis.
Here is an updated list of the accounts that have purchased it in November and December.
Veritas
St Louis Wine Market
33 Wine Bar
Five
Blood & Sand
Atomic Cowboy
Home Wine Kitchen
Straub's- all locations
Robust
Demun Oyster Bar
Market Grill in Soulard
One 19 North Wine Bar
Modesto Tapas
Wine and Cheese Places
Bottle Cellars
Vino Gallery
Truffles
Naked Vine
Lukas Liquor
Friar Tuck- all locations
So, get out there, buy some wine, and support a great cause!
Cheers!
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Why Wine-on-Tap?
Hi.
What an amazing month November was! Because of the generosity of those in St Louis that are buying Ludovicus, I'm already going to write Mission: St Louis a check for over $500, and we still have December to go! Keep up buying that wine!
I did want to make a short post about wine-on-tap. Yes, you read that correctly. Wine in kegs, just like beer kegs, has hit the St Louis restaurant scene. Sasha's on Shaw and Green Bean are already carrying it. It is being installed in Atomic Cowboy and 360 nightclub within the next couple of weeks, and several other places are heavily considering it.
Why?
Well, the short answer is that with wine-on-tap, you get the same benefits that you do with beer. The long answer is, well, longer. Here are the crib notes:
1) It's more Eco-friendly
Every time I order wine from a supplier, it comes shipped to me wrapped up on a wooden pallet. A normal pallet of wine is 56 cases, and weighs roughly 2000 lbs. It also contains 56 cardboard boxes, and 672 glass bottles that people say get recycled, but most often end up in a dumpster. For the same amount of cubic feet, I can bring in the liquid equivalent of 87 cases of wine in kegs, and it weighs 1300 lbs. This is a huge savings on the carbon footprint created by the shipping portion of this game. That also means that there is a recycling/landfill savings of 87 cardboard boxes and 1044 glass bottles.
2) It's less expensive
From the distributor (my) standpoint, the savings created by the wineries not having to produce bottles, boxes, labels, etc for all those cases of wine comes out to about $1-2 per bottle. I also save money on shipping, since it is lighter. This means that I charge restaurants less money, and they in turn charge less to the end consumer. At the end of the day, the consumer is getting a better bottle of wine for less money.
3) The wine lasts longer
If you run a bar, you know the feeling of coming in after you have been closed for a day or two, and having to dump out the leftovers in the bottles of wine that you pour by the glass. Most restaurant owners take this into consideration, and add padding to their pricing structure for the waste. With wine-on-tap, there is almost zero waste. The kegs are topped off with inert gas (usually a blend of nitrogen and co2) that keeps the wine from spoiling. Industry-types say that the wine will last over 6 months in a keg, but truthfully nobody knows. The wine is almost always sold before then. Once again, because the wine costs less, and there's no waste, you get to drink it for less $.
I think that's a wine-win.
Cheers.
What an amazing month November was! Because of the generosity of those in St Louis that are buying Ludovicus, I'm already going to write Mission: St Louis a check for over $500, and we still have December to go! Keep up buying that wine!
I did want to make a short post about wine-on-tap. Yes, you read that correctly. Wine in kegs, just like beer kegs, has hit the St Louis restaurant scene. Sasha's on Shaw and Green Bean are already carrying it. It is being installed in Atomic Cowboy and 360 nightclub within the next couple of weeks, and several other places are heavily considering it.
Why?
Well, the short answer is that with wine-on-tap, you get the same benefits that you do with beer. The long answer is, well, longer. Here are the crib notes:
1) It's more Eco-friendly
Every time I order wine from a supplier, it comes shipped to me wrapped up on a wooden pallet. A normal pallet of wine is 56 cases, and weighs roughly 2000 lbs. It also contains 56 cardboard boxes, and 672 glass bottles that people say get recycled, but most often end up in a dumpster. For the same amount of cubic feet, I can bring in the liquid equivalent of 87 cases of wine in kegs, and it weighs 1300 lbs. This is a huge savings on the carbon footprint created by the shipping portion of this game. That also means that there is a recycling/landfill savings of 87 cardboard boxes and 1044 glass bottles.
2) It's less expensive
From the distributor (my) standpoint, the savings created by the wineries not having to produce bottles, boxes, labels, etc for all those cases of wine comes out to about $1-2 per bottle. I also save money on shipping, since it is lighter. This means that I charge restaurants less money, and they in turn charge less to the end consumer. At the end of the day, the consumer is getting a better bottle of wine for less money.
3) The wine lasts longer
If you run a bar, you know the feeling of coming in after you have been closed for a day or two, and having to dump out the leftovers in the bottles of wine that you pour by the glass. Most restaurant owners take this into consideration, and add padding to their pricing structure for the waste. With wine-on-tap, there is almost zero waste. The kegs are topped off with inert gas (usually a blend of nitrogen and co2) that keeps the wine from spoiling. Industry-types say that the wine will last over 6 months in a keg, but truthfully nobody knows. The wine is almost always sold before then. Once again, because the wine costs less, and there's no waste, you get to drink it for less $.
I think that's a wine-win.
Cheers.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Be Nice
If you saw my Facebook rant last night, you know that I was pretty upset with some of my fellow food/wine industry cohorts. Yesterday, we held a launch party for a new wine-on-tap project that my company is carrying (more about that on another day). We held the party at a local wine bar that serves food as well. The way that it worked was that for $20 people got 4 tastes of wine, each paired with a small dish. Well, the party was really successful. Probably 120 people took advantage of the tasting, which is awesome. However, as the night got later the establishment understandably started running out of items (they were surprised by the number of people that showed for the event). At about this time, an individual that is involved with the local industry said to their server "You didn't save any (item X) for when I got here?"
Are you kidding me? This person really thought that the restaurant should say to their staff "Hey, such-and-such might be coming in, make sure you don't serve the 120 other people something so that they can get some when they are here."
This is the ultimate example of expecting to be treated like a rock star, and it drives me nuts. Just because you have a job in the industry, you should NOT expect to be treated in a special manner. Often you will be. It's nice, it's great, it's a perk of having friends in the industry, but you should never think that a restaurant should put service to someone else at risk, in order to feed your own self-worth.
Later in the night, a person with a job in the industry was given something of substantial value for free. They then left without tipping their server on the item. This is just plain asinine. Once again, in this industry, a lot of chefs, managers, bartenders, etc are extremely generous. However, if you get something for free, be it a dish, drink, bottle of wine, etc, you really need to tip your server on it. They are deprived of the opportunity to sell you something in that case, which they would have likely gotten tipped on if they had sold it to you.
That's the calmest way that I can explain myself. I want to rant, rave, cuss, spit, and call people out publically on their arrogant actions, but I won't. I have done wrong things in the past that doesn't put me in any position to judge. At the end of the day, please just get over yourself, and be nice.
Cheers.
Are you kidding me? This person really thought that the restaurant should say to their staff "Hey, such-and-such might be coming in, make sure you don't serve the 120 other people something so that they can get some when they are here."
This is the ultimate example of expecting to be treated like a rock star, and it drives me nuts. Just because you have a job in the industry, you should NOT expect to be treated in a special manner. Often you will be. It's nice, it's great, it's a perk of having friends in the industry, but you should never think that a restaurant should put service to someone else at risk, in order to feed your own self-worth.
Later in the night, a person with a job in the industry was given something of substantial value for free. They then left without tipping their server on the item. This is just plain asinine. Once again, in this industry, a lot of chefs, managers, bartenders, etc are extremely generous. However, if you get something for free, be it a dish, drink, bottle of wine, etc, you really need to tip your server on it. They are deprived of the opportunity to sell you something in that case, which they would have likely gotten tipped on if they had sold it to you.
That's the calmest way that I can explain myself. I want to rant, rave, cuss, spit, and call people out publically on their arrogant actions, but I won't. I have done wrong things in the past that doesn't put me in any position to judge. At the end of the day, please just get over yourself, and be nice.
Cheers.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
The World Series Curse
I have now had the opportunity to live in 2 different major baseball towns when their respective teams won the world series. My time in Boston and in St Louis has shown me one thing- World Series games are not good for the restaurant industry, and even moreso for wine sales in those towns.
You might think it's the opposite- that people pop good wine and champagne during the celebrations that follow wins. The truth is that people drink beer during baseball. They also go to sportsbars. I guarantee you, during any of the NLCS or the World Series games, you could walk into otherwise full restaurants and get a seat immediately. Friends of mine in the industry said that retail sales of wine were down roughly 15%, and that overall sales of restaurants (not sports bars) were off up to 25%.
Craziness.
In good news, if you have been following our drive to donate money to Mission: St Louis by selling Ludovicus, please add Blood and Sand, Home Wine Kitchen, and the Straub's stores in Webster, CWE, and West County.
Thanks all for your generosity!
Cheers.
You might think it's the opposite- that people pop good wine and champagne during the celebrations that follow wins. The truth is that people drink beer during baseball. They also go to sportsbars. I guarantee you, during any of the NLCS or the World Series games, you could walk into otherwise full restaurants and get a seat immediately. Friends of mine in the industry said that retail sales of wine were down roughly 15%, and that overall sales of restaurants (not sports bars) were off up to 25%.
Craziness.
In good news, if you have been following our drive to donate money to Mission: St Louis by selling Ludovicus, please add Blood and Sand, Home Wine Kitchen, and the Straub's stores in Webster, CWE, and West County.
Thanks all for your generosity!
Cheers.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Back in the Game
What? It's only been since February since I last posted.
Since my last post, Nicole made the roller derby league, and subsequently a team. We all had birthdays. Peggy unfortunately had to leave the company, but we did hire a driver (Stephen), and and office manager/ sales person (Kelly). We have also grown the company after a rough summer to something that is really wonderful. We are riding our best two months in a row, and continue to be successful.
That being said, I'm going to try to blog more, and keep the few people that read this thing in the loop as to what is going on.
...Which brings us to the charity that we are working with in November and December. Basically, for every bottle of Ludovicus that we sell, we will be donating $1 to Mission: St Louis. This is a great organization that is committed to transforming the city of St Louis through education, empowerment, and education. Please check out their website at www.missionstl.org
Now, what is Ludovicus, and where can you get it? The wine is a grenache-based blend from the area of Terra Alta, Spain. Those of you familiar with the wines from Priorat will probably like it. It's a similar style, and much, much cheaper.
The wine will cost you around $12 at a retail store, and about $25 per bottle at a restaurant, so drink up!
Right now, the St Louis locations that are committed to working with it are:
Friar Tuck Beverage
33 Wine Bar
Lukas Liquors
St Louis Wine Market
Kaya's Imports
The Wine and Cheese Places
Wine Merchant
Robust Wine Bar
Atomic Cowboy
Demun Oyster Bar
Vino Gallery
Bottle Cellars
Five Restaurant
Veritas
I will be updating this list as more places come on line with Ludovicus.
So, please go buy a bottle- it really will help your fair city!
Cheers, it's good to be back.
Kyle
Since my last post, Nicole made the roller derby league, and subsequently a team. We all had birthdays. Peggy unfortunately had to leave the company, but we did hire a driver (Stephen), and and office manager/ sales person (Kelly). We have also grown the company after a rough summer to something that is really wonderful. We are riding our best two months in a row, and continue to be successful.
That being said, I'm going to try to blog more, and keep the few people that read this thing in the loop as to what is going on.
...Which brings us to the charity that we are working with in November and December. Basically, for every bottle of Ludovicus that we sell, we will be donating $1 to Mission: St Louis. This is a great organization that is committed to transforming the city of St Louis through education, empowerment, and education. Please check out their website at www.missionstl.org
Now, what is Ludovicus, and where can you get it? The wine is a grenache-based blend from the area of Terra Alta, Spain. Those of you familiar with the wines from Priorat will probably like it. It's a similar style, and much, much cheaper.
The wine will cost you around $12 at a retail store, and about $25 per bottle at a restaurant, so drink up!
Right now, the St Louis locations that are committed to working with it are:
Friar Tuck Beverage
33 Wine Bar
Lukas Liquors
St Louis Wine Market
Kaya's Imports
The Wine and Cheese Places
Wine Merchant
Robust Wine Bar
Atomic Cowboy
Demun Oyster Bar
Vino Gallery
Bottle Cellars
Five Restaurant
Veritas
I will be updating this list as more places come on line with Ludovicus.
So, please go buy a bottle- it really will help your fair city!
Cheers, it's good to be back.
Kyle
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